Major League Baseball mandates that teams play out the games scheduled in September, regardless how far out of contention they are. Players are contractually obligated to play in those games.

Fans, on the other hand, are under no obligation to watch or listen to those games, check the box scores, or to give any regard whatsoever to what happens.

Most fans of the Kansas City Royals have moved on, as of last Sunday, to football season, and rightly so. But still, the baseball games go on. And a lot has happened, and will happen, this September that is worthy of note.

New Ownership:

The sale of the Royals to Kansas City businessman John Sherman requires approval at the league meeting this winter. But with that approval essentially guaranteed, Sherman can get a jumpstart this fall on deciding the direction of the franchise. He’ll certainly be paying close attention to the product on the field, as well as evaluating what help can be realistically expected from the minor league system.

Little is known about Sherman’s plans for the team as it is currently constituted. There are rumors that he’ll keep general manager Dayton Moore in some capacity. Whether or not manager Ned Yost returns for another season remains to be seen.

Sherman’s evaluation, and his philosophy toward spending on free agents (to this point unknown) will affect the futures of several current Royals. Should Alex Gordon be brought back for a swan song? Should the team lock slugger Jorge Soler up long term? Should veterans Whit Merrifield, Danny Duffy and Ian Kennedy be traded for prospects?

Roster Expansion:

Major league teams are expanding their rosters in a big way for the last time this September. By rule, teams have been permitted to bring anyone on their 40-man roster up to the big leagues on September 1. If a club so desired, it could fill its dugout with prospects and give them a chance to gain experience on the big stage.

The tradition of roster expansion in September allows a handful of men every year to realize the dream of playing in the major leagues who would otherwise never make it. For all the players called up, the expansion allows them to showcase their abilities for future opportunities.

Backup catcher Nick Dini was called up to Kansas City earlier in the summer due to an injury to Cam Gallagher. But Dini knows what September roster expansion means to fringe players like himself.

“It’s huge. You play the whole season with the hopes of getting to play in the big leagues,” Dini said. “All the work you put in during the offseason, and during the season, it’s all for this, to get to get to the big leagues and show what you can do. September is a huge opportunity that we all want to take advantage of.”

Dini admitted part of the challenge of September call-ups is that playing time for so many players is limited. Men accustomed to playing every day suddenly find themselves sitting on the bench for days at a time.

“It’s tough but that’s part of being a professional,” the 26-year-old catcher said. “When it’s your turn to play, you’ve got to be ready to play. The days when you aren’t playing, you’ve got to put the work in to make sure you’re ready to go when your name is called.”

The rule of September roster expansion was recently amended. Starting next season, teams will only be allowed to expand their rosters to 28. Dini said this fact is well known to minor leaguers.

“Guys are aware of (the change) and how it’s going to affect opportunities. That’s 12 less slots for each team, so 12 less opportunities for guys to get called up. But that’s what’s going on. There’s nothing you can do about it. My mentality has been just to go out and prepare, and if, God willing, it happens, then you’re ready to go.”

The Royals’ September call-ups include utility player Erick Mejia and pitchers Gabe Speier and Jesse Hahn. Each has a good shot at being on the roster next summer, so this exposure should accelerate their learning curve.

Keller On Ice:

The Royals announced in late August that it would limit pitcher Brad Keller’s innings and pitch count. The team indicated that Keller still had a ways to go in the season, but it hinted at concern for the 24-year-old’s health. He got blasted on August 26, and that was all the Royals needed to immediately shut Keller down.

“It was a consensus among the coaches that it’s what I needed,” Keller said. “It sucks, from the competitive side. You always want to go out there and compete with the boys. But it’s like a stepping stone for the future. They’re looking out for my best interest, and I agree with what they’re doing. So I just have to (accept it) and keep moving forward.”

Keller’s absence in the starting rotation will open up opportunities for others. Giving starts to Jorge Lopez will open up relief opportunities for Speier, Hahn and others. The final month should see Kyle Zimmer, Josh Staumont and Eric Skoglund get a long look in the bullpen.

“I’m really excited to see how we do in September and what the other guys can do,” said Keller. “It’s a showcase. It’s going to give them a chance to get their feet wet, to get an understanding of what it’s like to play in the big leagues, on and off the field.”

Minor League Playoffs:

When the prospects that eventually won the 2015 World Series worked their way up through the farm system, a premium was placed on winning minor league championships. The franchise wanted the Royals of the future to learn to win together. New prospects, now at the lower levels of the minors, are reviving the winning tradition.

The Wilmington Blue Rocks, a club flush with premium prospects, is competing this weekend for the high A classification Carolina League championship. Meanwhile the lower A-ball Lexington Legends are playing for a South Atlantic League title. And down at the Royals Dominican Academy, a collection of Latin American prospects claimed the Dominican Summer League championship.

Fall League Action:

Some of the Royals’ top prospects in the minors will get additional seasoning in the Arizona Fall League. Brewer Hicklen and Kyle Isbel, seen by the Royals as outfielders of the future, will be joined by versatile slugger Gabriel Cancel. Pitcher Daniel Lynch, considered the Royals #3 prospect, will see some additional innings in Arizona to make up for time lost due to injury earlier in the summer. Lynch will be accompanied in Arizona by fellow pitching prospects Daniel Tillo and Tad Ratliff.

After breaking out of a dreaded 10-game skid with a sweep of Cleveland last weekend, manager Ned Yost declared that the Royals “are a better team than the 10-game-losing streak showed.”

Some statistics back up that statement. On April 11, following the last of the 10 losses, the Royals’ 4.5 runs per game was just below the American League average. They were also in the middle of the pack in slugging and in on-base-plus-slugging percentage (OPS). And on that date, their six quality starts from pitchers was in the upper half of the league.

So, if the offense and starting pitching was average to above, what was the problem during that stretch? One word: bullpen.

The Royals had blown four of six save opportunities, and seemed to have no answer for how to close out a game they should win.

While a myriad of problems led to the 58-104 disaster of 2018, the bullpen was the leading culprit. Losing with youngsters in the everyday lineup and in the starting rotation was bad enough. But when the team had a chance to win, blown opportunities by the bullpen were particularly galling.

The Royals thought they had purged the worst of last year’s relievers. They cut ties with Blaine Boyer, Justin Grimm, Brandon Maurer and Burch Smith – guys who combined to allow 181 hits and 141 runs over 143.2 innings.

They added two veterans in Brad Boxberger – a former closer in Arizona – and Jake Diekman, a tandem that couldn’t possibly be as bad as the quartet they’d just banished. Could they?

Turns out, in the early going, they could.

Boxberger, in particular, has been dreadful. He’s surrendered more than a run per inning, and his pitching has led directly to a loss three times already in this short season. After Boxberger blew a lead on Monday at Chicago, Yost essentially stopped using him, turning to other options.

With a few more wins under their belts, things in the bullpen don’t seem quite as dire as they did a week ago. Despite the rough start, Diekman and Boxberger will probably remain a factor. They continue to take the same attitude as they took to begin the season.

“The most important thing to being successful is seeing every day as a new day,” said Boxberger, who, with 77 career saves, has seen his share of success. “No matter what happened the day before, you might be called upon again the next day, so you have to be able to put that out of your mind and believe you can succeed the next day.”

Diekman said that, on top of trying to pitch effectively, he and Boxberger will try to provide a veteran presence as Yost relies more and more on youngsters like Richard Lovelady and Scott Barlow.

“We have a lot of pitchers with very, very good arms,” Diekman said. “They might not be the most experienced down there, but they have the ability to have success up here. So if (Brad or I) can give them any knowledge or ease the growing pains, then we’re happy to do it.”

Yost tends to believe in veterans to know how to turn things around. A week ago he seemed to be more frustrated with the poor showing by those young members of the pen.

“We have some very young pitchers who need to understand how good they are when they step on the mound, and get on the attack,” he said after the sweep of Cleveland last Sunday. “They’ve got to trust their stuff and attack.”

The Royals opened the season with high hopes that oft-injured Kyle Zimmer was ready to play a role in the pen. But having so little in-game experience, Zimmer might not have been ready for the jump to the majors. He struggled with his command and was sent to the minors to figure things out.

Another guy who dropped the ball was Tim Hill, a key lefty last year. He was also sent down, as was the more experienced Kevin McCarthy.

Next to disappoint was Lovelady, whose promotion had been much anticipated due to his success in the minors. Other youngsters like Jake Newberry and Glen Sparkman have had spotty results as well.

But the season is still young. With the emergence of converted started Ian Kennedy as a reliable option in late innings, and expected improvement from Wily Peralta, there is still time for the pen to go from a weakness to a strength. Those two veterans, plus Barlow and Lovelady, combined to hold the fort in recent wins.

“We’ve got a really special group of guys,” said Barlow, who saw limited action in 2018 and is starting to see his role expand. “Everybody gets along really well and with everybody helping each other, I think down the road, as the days and weeks go by, we can really feed off each other and do something special.

“It’s a lot of just building off each other. We’re starting to get into a better routine, taking care of our business. We’re definitely asking the older guys for help when we need it. And as each guy pitches well, we’re feeding off of each other.”

One of the few things that can salvage a losing season is a player battling to the end in pursuit of some individual statistical accomplishment. The race for a batting title or home run championship keeps fans looking at the box scores, even when all hope for team success has been abandoned.

Royals fans enjoyed such pursuits most significantly when George Brett raced for batting titles. Brett famously chased immortality in 1980, not in pursuit of a batting title – there was no other player near him in the race – but rather to finish with a .400 batting average. He fell just short, but owns the honor of being the only player to win batting titles in three separate decades (1976, 1980 and 1990).

The 1976 batting race was particularly interesting, because two Royals duked it out until the final day. Brett edged teammate Hal McRae by a single point, winning .333 to .332.

Dan Quisenberry won the most titles for Kansas City. He led the league in saves 5 times during the Royals heyday of the early 1980s. Royals players have led the league in wins and ERA multiple times.

In spite of all their failures this year, one Royal is in hot pursuit of a significant mark that is keeping things interesting. Whit Merrifield is giving fans a reason to stay tuned – with just a week’s worth of games left, he is leading the American League in stolen bases.

With 38 steals through Friday’s win at Detroit, Merrifield leads Mallex Smith of the Tampa Bay Rays by three.

Making Merrifield’s accomplishment even more significant is the fact that he led the American League in stolen bases last season as well. Four other Royals have led the league in larceny, but none ever did it twice.

Who better than announcer Denny Matthews, who has been with the Royals for every one of their 50 seasons, to analyze Merrifield’s thievery.

“He’s very good at picking up tendencies of pitchers, and looking at video, and talking to other guys about the pitchers,” Matthews said of Merrifield. “He studies and he works at it.”

Amos Otis was the first Royal to lead the league in stolen bases, with 52 in 1971. Freddie Patek was next to do it, with 53 in 1977. Willie Wilson set the team record for steals in a season when he led the league with 83 in 1979. And Johnny Damon led the American League in 2000 with 46.

Merrifield led the league with 34 last year. His stolen base totals pale in comparison to some of the Royals of the past. But Matthews said that is a product of the times.

“It depends on the era,” said Matthews. “Right now, home runs are a big deal. Stolen bases don’t mean all that much. They used to. The game was played differently. We’ve had some great base stealers. Freddie Patek was very good. Amos Otis was terrific. Whit’s that kind of a player.

“And while maybe in this era stolen bases don’t mean as much, they do to this team. Because of the park they play in, home runs don’t come that easily. The Royals have to manufacture runs any way they can, and Whit’s very attuned to that.”

One key to stealing bases is weighing the value of moving up 90 feet versus the potential for being thrown out. Merrifield is successful 79.6 percent of the time, which manager Ned Yost deems an acceptable rate to keep it up.

Merrifield isn’t successful as frequently as some of the Kansas City’s greatest base stealers. Carlos Beltran swiped 164 bases as a Royal and was only caught 12.3 percent of the time. Jerrod Dyson ripped off 176 bases with a 14.6 percent success rate. Wilson, the greatest base stealer in team history, stole 612 as a Royal and was caught just 16.3 percent of the time. Wilson stole 668 bases in his career to rank 12th all time.

Merrifield won’t approach any of those totals, but his success rate compares favorably to Otis (20.4), Damon (21.2) and Patek (24.3). And his ability to advance around the bases helps stoke the Royals’ offense.

“It sets a tone for each game. It’s taking the attitude of ‘What have I got to do to help the team win in this situation? I’ve got to get from first base to second base to give my team a better chance of getting a run in.’ That’s Whit’s thinking. That’s the type of player he is.”

The Royals have essentially played two seasons in 2018. The first season, the disastrous one in which a group of veterans put up a 27-68 record at the All-Star break, had people worried they might just be the worst team in history (seriously!)

Then they played a second season, going for youth and speed. That team has gone 24-28 since the All-Star break and bolstered the minor league system at the same time.

Some of the choices made by Dayton Moore over the past nine months that produced such a dramatic switch were forced upon him by financial realities. Some were so obviously necessary (like moving Alcides Escobar aside for Adalberto Mondesi) that fans couldn’t figure out what took so long. And a few took serious nerve and ingenuity by Moore.

The list is long of players Kansas City jettisoned. Here’s how those moves are working out so far.

Changes prior to the 2018 season:

Eric Hosmer – The Royals allegedly tried hard to entice Hosmer to return to Kansas City with a hefty contract. Hosmer ultimately opted to sign with the San Diego Padres, and beloved as Hosmer was in Kansas City, the Royals lucked out on this one.

The Royals went with stopgap Lucas Duda and rookie Hunter Dozier at first base. But in the past month, Ryan O’Hearn has asserted himself as the first baseman of the immediate future. Hosmer has underperformed on his enormous contract with 16 homers and 62 RBI while playing essentially every day. O’Hearn has 10 homers and 24 RBI in less than one-fifth as many at bats. Hosmer’s Wins Above Replacement (WAR) total is just 0.9, while O’Hearn’s is already 1.2.

Lorenzo Cain – The Royals were loath to let Cain depart, but they feared his age and injury history made him a poor investment for a rebuilding team. They will ultimately be proved right, but it comes as no surprise Cain is tearing up the National League. He’s currently batting .313 with a .403 on-base percentage. In terms of WAR, Cain is the second best position player in the National League.

In Cain’s absence, the Royals have employed several options in centerfield, primarily Jon Jay (more on him later). None was a permanent fix, and current frontrunner Brett Phillips, acquired midseason, may not be either.

As compensation for letting Cain and Hosmer depart via free agency, the Royals received additional draft picks (in the 33^rd and 34^th slot) in the 2018 draft. By picking college pitchers Jackson Kowar and Daniel Lynch, the Royals may have added two pieces of their starting rotation of the very near future.

The Royals wouldn’t have been a good team in 2018 had they resigned Cain, and they were right to rebuild without him. But there is no doubt, they would be a much better team today with him. The same can’t be said about Hosmer.

Jason Vargas – The Royals let their top starting pitcher from 2017 walk, judging correctly that the 34 year old’s 18-11 record was unrepeatable. They were right. The New York Mets are paying Vargas $6 million for disastrous output. They are on the hook for $16 million more over the next two seasons, and the results are likely to get worse.

Vargas’ rotation spot was handed to Jakob Junis, and the 25-year-old looks like a building block of the future.

Brandon Moss – For some inexplicable reason, the Oakland A’s were willing to trade two minor league pitchers for Moss and pitcher Ryan Buchter. Moss’ skills had slipped to the point he was released by Oakland in spring training, and no other team wants him.

In exchange for Moss, the Royals acquired Heath Fillmyer and minor leaguer Jesse Hahn. Fillmyer has made some good starts in Kansas City, and Hahn, injured all of 2018, still holds some promise.

By not wasting playing time on Moss, the Royals have been able to audition outfielders like Phillips, Rosell Herrera and Brian Goodwin.

Joakim Soria and Scott Alexander – This one hurts when you look just at 2018. The Royals traded these two essentially to rid themselves of Soria’s contract. But Alexander was a valuable young piece of the bullpen and he’s been very good for the Los Angeles Dodgers. Soria was rejuvenated with the Chicago White Sox.

The Royals received two quality prospects in Trevor Oaks and Erick Mejia, but neither is setting any worlds on fire.

The Royals shipped out a long list of pitchers after 2017, including Chris Young, Matt Strahm, Peter Moylan, Trevor Cahill and Travis Wood. The good news is the Royals are giving all those innings to young pitchers who may be good in the future.

Changes during the 2018 season:

Jon Jay – Jay was very good in a short stint with the Royals, but he was signed expressly to flip for prospects. Eighteen-year-old Elvis Luciano has loads of talent and time to develop it. Gabe Speier is an organizational filler who may reach the big leagues eventually.

Kelvin Herrera – It was essential not only that Herrera be traded, but that it be done at just the right time. Score a big win here for Moore. Herrera was near perfect for half a season in Kansas City. He was dealt for three prospects and promptly went into decline.

The return for Herrera has been solid. Kelvin Gutierrez, a minor league third baseman who is exceeding expectations at Double A. Depending on how Dozier fares, Gutierrez may be the Royals third baseman of the future. Blake Perkins is a talented outfielder who needs time to develop. Another 18-year-old named Yohanse Morel was thrown in and may be a player eventually.

Mike Moustakas – Moustakas has been good for the Milwaukee Brewers since being dealt on July 27 – six homers and a .277 average. But trading him was the only choice.

The Royals hoped to rake in the prospects for Moose. They may not have done that, but pitcher Jorge Lopez nearly pitched a perfect game last week, and has been ok in his other five starts. Brett Phillips has loads of skill, but will have to learn to hit. Like Lopez, his talent is intriguing.

Having won 13 of 19 since August 24, the new season is inspiring hope. Like manager Ned Yost said Friday night, “It’s starting to get fun again.”

Rosell Herrera’s 2018 season is a microcosm of the highs and lows of life.

Herrera is seeing regular playing time in the major leagues, and on July 15 he became a father, his wife giving birth to a healthy girl named Roselyne. Life can’t get much better, win-loss record be damned.

“Life just feels awesome right now,” Herrera said. “(The birth of his daughter) changed everything. Right now I’m trying to live in the moment and be the very best father I can be, while also trying to do all I can to take advantage of this opportunity here.”

The opportunity Herrera refers to is the chance to be in the lineup daily for the Kansas City Royals. An eight-year minor leaguer who was bound for unemployment just two months ago, the new father has found the Royals’ collapse to be to his advantage. One he’s trying to make the most of, despite some sleepless nights.

“We didn’t get a lot of sleep when I was there (over the All-Star break),” said Herrera, whose wife isn’t currently living in Kansas City. “My wife is there taking care of her when I’m away, but when I was there we were up a lot.

“It’s hard to leave, because it’s my first experience having a baby. I was very happy when I was there, but I know I have to be here to do my job. I feel blessed and am so excited to try to show what I can do here in the major leagues.”

In spite of the Royals’ dismal record, the 25-year-old feels like he’s sitting on top of the world. But it’s been a roller coaster to get to this point.

There was a time when the Dominican-born Herrera was a hot commodity. He was a Baseball America Top 100 prospect in the Colorado Rockies system prior to the 2014 season. Speed, versatility, and the ability to switch hit made his future appear bright.

But when he failed to hit for power, the Rockies cut their ties with him in 2017. The Cincinnati Reds gave him a brief try this season. He played 23 games in the Reds’ minor leagues, and got an 11-game audition at the big leagues. But when Herrera batted just .154, Cincinnati put him on waivers.

Desperate to accelerate their rebuild, the Royals took a flier on Herrera. He played ten games, primarily in the infield, for the Omaha Storm Chasers. When Jorge Soler went down with an injury in mid-June, Herrera got his chance to play in the Kauffman Stadium outfield.

Herrera has some of the tools that play well in Kansas City, primarily speed. He’s flashy in the outfield, running down fly balls with confidence and flair. His slap-hitting style from both sides of the plate may work well in the spacious stadium. The fact that he can play six positions on the infield and outfield means he’s ready for almost any opportunity.

Thus far with the Royals, Herrera has only played in the outfield. But in his minor league career, Herrera played 307 games at shortstop, 90 at third base, and six at second base.

“I like the infield, but right now they need me in the outfield, and I’m ready for that,” Herrera said. “It’s good to play multiple positions because it gives me a lot more opportunity to get on the field.”

With most of their top prospects a couple of years away from the big leagues, Kansas City is seeking diamonds in the rough to bolster their outfield talent pool.  First they brought in veterans Jon Jay and Tyler Collins during spring training. Then they traded for Abraham Almonte.

And since mid-season, the Royals have picked up Herrera and recently acquired Brian Goodwin via a trade with the Washington Nationals. Both Herrera and Goodwin are former top prospects who lost their shine. Both may benefit from the fresh start offered by a team in full rebuild.

Now the Royals have traded Mike Moustakas for another outfield candidate, the Brewers 24-year-old prospect Brett Phillips.

The presence of Goodwin and Phillips may make the outfield a lot more crowded for Herrera. But thus far, manager Ned Yost has penciled in Herrera’s name nearly every game since he arrived in mid-June. And with the trade of Moustakas now executed, Herrera may find himself manning third base. His bat will ultimately determine if he sticks with the Royals long term.

Regardless, the new dad remains undaunted.

“I just keep working hard. We all have things we can do to get better. I need to keep working on my hitting, and on my defense. I’m just happy to have this opportunity.”

But to anyone who grew up studying the back of baseball cards, there are lots of numbers that matter. Championships aren’t the only thing that capture the imagination and make baseball a beautiful thing to study.

Batting averages, home runs, ERA and strikeouts, and less traditional measures such as Wins Above Replacement (WAR) and On-base Plus Slugging (OPS) go down in the record books and make some players into legends, and others just faces in the crowd.

The halfway point of a season is the most logical point, as well as the easiest mathematically, to evaluate how things are going. Obviously, things aren’t going well in Kansas City. But a review of individual statistics may provide some glimmer of hope, or at least something other than wins and losses to obsess over.

2018 Projected Team Leaders at the Halfway Point:

Hits: Whit Merrifield, 170; Home Runs: Mike Moustakas, 30; RBI: Mike Moustakas, 100; Stolen Bases: Whit Merrifield, 32; Wins: Jakob Junis, 10; Saves: Kelvin Herrera, 14; Strikeouts: Jakob Junis 180

Mike Moustakas: Of all their current players, the Royals are most desperate to trade Moose, so a good first half was critical to his market value. He started out hot, as if to prove everyone wrong who passed over him in free agency. With 8 home runs in April, it looked like he might threaten the team record of 38, which he established in 2017.

But a cool couple of months have clouded Moustakas’ prospects considerably. He completed the first half with 15 home runs, and probably won’t finish out the season in Kansas City, so last year’s record is safe. His 134 career home runs place him eighth on the Royals all time list, and just 10 more would move him past John Mayberry into seventh. (One note for Moustakas to consider after this season: were he to return to Kansas City as a free agent, just 64 more homers in a Royals uniform would move him to second place on the team’s list.)

Salvador Perez: The Royals entered the season promising to give the big catcher more days off from behind the plate. Before they could enact that plan, however, Perez missed a month with a knee injury. The Royals did play him 10 times at designated hitter and once at first base. So they have made some effort to rest him. His 11 homers in 60 games looks good, but his other numbers are down from previous years. His string of five straight all-star games is in jeopardy.

Whit Merifield: His 4 home runs look paltry compared to the 19 he belted last season. However, his 30 walks in the first half already top the 29 he drew last year. And his 16 stolen bases have him on pace to surpass the 34 bags he swiped to lead the American League last year. He is currently in third place in the league in that category.

Jorge Soler, Jorge Bonifacio and Cheslor Cuthbert: Manager Ned Yost swore he would make sure Soler, Bonifacio and Cuthbert each get at least 500 at bats this season. It seemed imperative to the rebuild that the team find out what it has in these three players.

This isn’t going to happen. First Bonifacio was suspended for half the season, and has just returned. Then Cuthbert sustained a back injury in mid-May and has missed more than a month. He’s batted just 103 times thus far, with dismal returns. Soler batted 223 times before breaking a bone in his foot. The good news is that he was tapping into his infinite potential before the injury, and hopes to return soon.

Lucas Duda: The big first baseman smashed 30 home runs last year, so the Royals signed him, mostly hoping to trade him midseason. Approaching that home run total again would have been nice. No such luck. He sits on just 5, and probably has little trade value, if any.

Danny Duffy: The supposed “ace” of the Royals pitching staff was an enormous disappointment the first two months of the season. For the past month, he’s been solid (and at times spectacular), and with a 4-7 record so far, he may still reach double digits in victories, a feat he’s only achieved once. He’s on pace to set career highs for starts and innings.

Jakob Junis: With a 5-9 record currently, Junis still has a chance to reach double-digit wins. Doing so would top the 9 wins he tallied his rookie year. But in direct contrast to Duffy, Junis started the season brilliantly and has since fallen apart. Junis, Ian Kennedy (1-8) and Jason Hammel (2-9) might each threaten the season record of 19 losses by a Royals pitcher.

Kelvin Herrera: Although he was traded well before the halfway point of the season, Herrera is essentially guaranteed to lead the team in saves. He had 14 when he was dealt, and no other Royal has more than 2.

Though he’s still only 28 years old, Herrera is third in most games pitched by a Royal. He spent very little time as the team’s closer, but departed Kansas City just one save away from fourth place on the team’s all-time saves list.

Royals fans can’t forget 2018 soon enough. But the numbers posted by individuals make up a larger story of careers and statistics are added to record books. Even in the worst of seasons, they are part of what makes baseball a wonderful game.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. When your big league club is one of the worst in baseball, and your farm system is viewed with even greater derision, you are willing to look anywhere for help.

The Royals turned to a little-known process to add a couple of prospects this past winter, and thus far like what they found.

Right-handed relievers Brad Keller and Burch Smith were acquired in separate trades after each was selected by another team in the December Rule 5 Draft. In accordance with the rules of the draft, the Royals committed to give Keller and Smith an opportunity in their depleted bullpen.

Neither player saw it coming.

“There just aren’t many players picked each year,” Keller said. “So I definitely wasn’t expecting it. I didn’t really pay much attention to the process. When it happened, I got a bunch of congratulatory messages. It was such a good feeling.”

“I didn’t really know much about it or how it worked,” said Smith, who appeared briefly with the San Diego Padres in 2013. “I knew I was eligible, but beyond that I didn’t have much expectation. I was really excited because I knew it would be a real good opportunity for me to get back to the major leagues.”

The Rule 5 Draft is a bit complicated. In general, players over 23 years of age with four or more professional seasons under their belts must be protected on their teams’ 40-man major league roster. If they are not protected, they are eligible to be drafted by another team, with the only caveat being they must stay with their new major league club for the entire season. The cost of the selection is $100,000.

The biggest catch is that if at some point the new team doesn’t want to keep the player on the big league roster, he must be offered back to the original club for $50,000.

“It’s awesome to think that a team has that much trust in me that they would try to keep me at this level for the whole year,” Keller said. “The Royals had the confidence in me to compete for a role in the bullpen in spring training.”

Being a Rule 5 pick puts an unproven player in a unique position. Without the option to shuttle the player back and forth from the minor leagues, the player will be utilized differently than a player with ‘options.’

“We don’t go about it differently, really,” Smith said, comparing himself and Keller to other young relievers on the team. “We still take the same approach. We see it as an opportunity that we want to work hard and prove ourselves.”

Not a lot of Rule 5 picks make much of an impact. Most are relief pitchers hidden in the shadows of the bullpen, rarely making appearances in pressure situations. Players like D.J. Carrasco, Andrew Cisco and Nate Adcock made small contributions during the dismal era before the Royals turned the corner in 2013.

Gene Watson, the Royals’ assistant general manager and senior director of professional scouting, acknowledged in a Sporting News article this spring that the bullpen is the best place to try to carry a Rule 5 pick: “We try to find ceiling arms,” he said.

From the outset, Royals manager Ned Yost saw no point in trying to protect Keller or Smith from the limelight. Each is among the team leaders in appearances and has Yost’s trust in pressure situations.

“It’s great that they trust us, and hopefully we can continue to build that trust, so that they feel like they can put either of us in, whatever the situation, and we can do the job,” Smith said.

“I feel like that’s the best way to get accustomed to competing at this level is just to get thrown into the fire,” Keller added. “I am glad the Royals trusted me to get out there and try to help the team from the beginning.”

For a team in rebuilding mode, the Rule 5 Draft provided the Royals a chance to infuse their major league squad with some new, if unproven, talent.

“We try to explore every avenue to acquire players,” Watson said in the Sporting News article. “We always take a lot of pride in our preparation for the Rule 5 Draft. We feel like it’s been helpful for us.”

For the past several seasons, the Royals have passed on using their picks, because of the abundance of talent on their roster. Not since 2010 have the Royals attempted to carry a Rule 5 pick through an entire season.

But there is always the hope that a team will strike gold in the Rule 5 Draft, which the Royals did in 2006 when they plucked Joakim Soria from the San Diego Padres farm system. Soria became an instant success in the Royals bullpen, saving 160 games and making two All-Star teams over the next five seasons.

Keller and Smith may not become All-Stars. But they are looking more and more like building blocks as the Royals attempt to reconstruct a championship ball club.

Not many things have gone right for the Royals in 2018. If fans haven’t given up already, with just over a quarter of the season in the books, they are forced to search pretty hard to find any positives.

One thing the Royals did try that has turned out as planned was the addition of a true leadoff hitter in veteran Jon Jay.

During the Royals’ renaissance of 2013 to 2017, their lineup was effective in spite of the lack of a traditional table setter at the top of the order. The Royals tried just about everything. They acquired Nori Aoki, a traditional leadoff type. They tried to capitalize on Alex Gordon’s knack for getting on base. They tried Lorenzo Cain for his dynamic combination of speed and power. And more frequently than could be believed by analytics specialists, manager Ned Yost plugged Alcides Escobar into the top spot. While Escobar stinks at just about everything at the plate, Yost believed he brought some sort of good luck – which was dubbed “Esky Magic” – to the role.

As the Royals search for a direction in 2018 (are they rebuilding or not?), they brought in a veteran in Jay who knows the leadoff role and plays it the traditional way. With almost no power potential, Jay hits singles and coaxes walks at a rate much higher than anyone the Royals have used in the role recently.

“I try to set the table for the guys behind me,” said Jay, owner of a .355 career on-base percentage. “When I hit at the top of the lineup, I’m just trying to get on base, and to see a lot of pitches.”

The Royals’ disappointing finish in 2017 could be blamed in part on the team’s lack of a table setter. Kansas City’s leadoff hitters combined for a .279 on-base percentage, lowest in the majors. Their 89 runs scored ranked second to last.

Though not used in the top spot every game, Jay is demonstrating he fits that role. He entered the weekend series with the New York Yankees second on the team in batting average at .299 and second in on-base percentage at .363.

Jay is happy to play the leadoff role when called upon, but doesn’t criticize the Royals for the way they filled that spot in the past.

“Every team is built a little bit differently, and the past couple of years, you could say that they didn’t have a true leadoff hitter, but I don’t see it that way,” said Jay. “Everything was constructed differently and it worked, obviously.”

The Royals acquisition of Jay appears to make sense on several levels. Aside from being the leadoff hitter they’ve lacked, Jay fills a void that appeared in the offseason. When the Royals lost Cain to free agency and Jorge Bonifacio for half the season due to suspension, they needed a stopgap while they wait for minor league outfield prospects to develop.

Furthermore, Jay joined the Royals on a one-year contract, allowing them to showcase him to be traded mid-season. It’s a safe bet that some contending team will need an outfielder as the July trade deadline nears, and the Royals can then flip Jay for prospects. His $3 million contract isn’t a big investment, and won’t be a deterrent to any potential trade partner.

Jay’s future with the Royals is beyond his control, and he’s choosing to focus on the here and now.

“I am just taking it one day at a time here,” said the nine-year veteran. “I just always try to play hard, lead by example and just help the team in any way I can.”

Jay understands being traded is just part of the game, but said that he likes being a Kansas City Royal.

“It’s an adjustment for me and my family. I love coming to the field here in Kansas City, and I just love playing baseball. So I just plan to show up here every day and do all I can to help the team.”

Fans eager for a rebuild of the Kansas City Royals have questioned why management filled the lineup with veterans. With each signing of a stopgap – Alcides Escobar, Lucas Duda, Mike Moustakas and Jon Jay – observers wondered why the Royals would delay the anticipated youth movement. The team was expected to be bad anyway, so why not give the prospects on-the-job training.

Those fans may still wonder what’s going on, but a youth movement is taking place in an area they may not have noticed.

While the veterans take the field each night, take a peek into the bullpen and you’ll see plenty of fresh faces – guys cutting their teeth one inning at a time, without fanfare or even much notice by the casual fan.

A few years ago, the Royals employed a unique combination of average starting pitching and historically dominant relief pitching to reach two World Series, winning one. The tactic was revolutionary.

Aside from current closer Kelvin Herrera, that crew has since moved on. But perhaps the pieces are coming together to form another effective bullpen for the Royals to build upon.

Lefthander Tim Hill is leading the rebuild, slinging biting darts from a three-quarters angle that are nearly unhittable by left-handed hitters.

At 28, Hill is somewhat old by rookie standards. Three years ago, Hill’s path to the big leagues was slowed by a life-threatening bout with colon cancer. But having been drafted out of college at 24 years of age, he didn’t spend much time in the minors. Hill has been designated a reliever from day one and advanced quickly through the farm system.

Still, Hill didn’t have a lot of assurance he would break spring camp with the Royals in March. The Royals added veterans to the bullpen mix over the winter, and it looked like Hill would start the season in Triple A at Omaha. But Hill so impressed Yost during spring training, not only did he promote him to the big league roster, but called on him in pressure situations from the get-go.

“It was pretty special finding out that I was going to be on the opening day roster,” said the product of Bacone College in Muskogee, Okla. “It was something you’ve been working for years, basically your whole life, to get to have that moment.”

Hill started out red hot. He didn’t allow a hit in his first six appearances, and at that point his ERA was a dazzling 1.35. He has since cooled off, but remains one of Yost’s trusted assets.

The Royals broke camp with veterans Brandon Maurer, Justin Grimm and Blaine Boyer looking to set the table for Herrera. But quickly that formula was scrapped as Yost turned more and more to a collection of rookies in the bullpen, including Burch Smith and Brad Keller. Also making their debuts out of the bullpen have been Scott Barlow, Eric Stout and Overland Park native Jason Adam.

“Timing has a lot to do with it,” Hill said of the opportunity the rookies are being given. “You have to be pitching well, obviously, and then there has to be that opportunity. Those two things don’t always go hand in hand.

“There are lot of guys out there, in different organizations, who have the ability but just aren’t getting the opportunity. Or the opening is there, but they aren’t pitching well at the right time.”

Yost has yet to solidify a 7^th and 8^th inning tandem to set up Herrera, but Hill said time will sort out the roles in the bullpen.

“Everybody’s out there just cheering each other on,” Hill said “As the season goes on, roles kind of get established. But that kind of takes care of itself. I don’t think we (the relievers) should worry about what our role is. We should just focus on going out there when they give you a job to do, and just do that job that day. If everybody can just do their job well, we’ll be pretty good.”

Every so often something unique and extraordinary explodes onto the scene of major league baseball, creating an unusual wave of interest at the ballpark and in the media.

Several decades ago, a gangly, flailing pitcher nicknamed “The Bird” came from out of nowhere to become an overnight celebrity by talking to the ball between pitches and exhibiting quirky tactics. Mark Fydrich packed stadiums and became a media darling in his rookie season in 1976.

Fernandomania swept the nation in 1981, when Fernando Valenzuela dominated the National League and sparked new interest in major league baseball amongst millions of Mexican-Americans and in Valenzuela’s home country of Mexico.

Neither of those phenomena was expected. But the arrival from Japan of Ichiro Suzuki in 2001 was one anticipated with baited breath by the Asian world. Hundreds of Japanese media reported on Suzuki’s every move throughout that season, and viewership skyrocketed in Japan despite the 16-hour time difference.

Something truly unique is taking place in baseball this year, and it is happening right now at Kauffman Stadium.

Taking the hill for the Los Angeles Angels today against the Royals will be Shohei Ohtani. The 23-year-old native of Japan is doing something that hasn’t really been attempted in 100 years. Pitching every Sunday for the Angels, Ohtani takes a regular spot in the Angels batting order as designated hitter on his off days.

Not since Babe Ruth in 1919 has a player batted regularly in between starts on the mound. Ruth has always been considered the greatest of two-way performers. At just 22 years of age in 1917, Ruth had established himself as perhaps the best pitcher in the game. But he showed such skill at the plate that his team at the time, the Boston Red Sox, began to use him more and more in the field. So in 1918 and 1919, he split time between the two roles.

When the New York Yankees acquired the Bambino in 1920, they turned him into a full-time outfielder. The rest, of course, is history.

Ohtani isn’t the first guy since Ruth who was good at both pitching and hitting. So one would wonder why this hasn’t been attempted since. Did Ruth and the Yankees create some unwritten rule against it?

Ruth wasn’t exactly the picture of fitness, so it’s possible that when he threw a lot of pitches it affected his ability at the plate. And in the days prior to the designated hitter (instituted in the American League in 1973), playing both ways meant literally playing both ways. But why hasn’t anyone tried until now? Considering the limitations imposed by the 25-man roster, and the opportunity the DH provides for pitchers to bat without playing in the field, it’s surprising no one has done more than dabble as a two-way performer.

Ned Yost noted prior to the series that while managing the Milwaukee Brewers 2003 and 2004, he used a player named Brooks Kieschnick as a Swiss army knife, pitching in relief, pinch hitting and playing DH and left field. Over the two-year period, Kieschnick threw 96 innings, and batted 144 times. It was a great display of versatility, and an indication of what was possible, but nothing like what Ohtani is attempting.

“Shotime” fever is catching on with American fans as the Angels try something revolutionary. Japan, of course, can’t get enough of it. The Royals provided about 50 to 75 credentials to Japanese media on Thursday. Broadcaster Joel Goldberg said during the opener of the four-game series the Royals expected that number to quadruple over the weekend.

Whether “Shotime” approaches the mania of Fernando or Ichiro remains to be seen. But when your feats already can be compared only to Babe Ruth’s, they are bound to attract significant attention.

In his best season as pitcher/hitter, Ruth belted 29 home runs and drove in 113 RBI while also going 9-5 with a 2.97 ERA in 15 starts. The year before that, in his most evenly balanced season, Ruth hit 11 home runs and recorded 13 wins as a pitcher.

No pitcher since 1918 has won 10 games and also hit 10 home runs in a campaign. A Cleveland Indians pitcher named Wes Ferrell had perhaps the best season of pitching and hitting since Ruth. He won 22 games in 1931 and belted 9 homers.

Ohtani goes for win number three today against the Royals, in what will be his only trip to Kansas City this season. Given an opportunity none have received in 100 years, he appears well on his way to making history.